Curling, Etcetera_ A Whole Bunch of Stuff About the Roaring Game - Bob Weeks [15]
• According to The Curling News, at a posh mall in Rabat, Morocco, the only skating rink in the country is regularly transformed into a curling rink and lessons provided to locals. Although most had never seen a skating rink before—let alone a game of curling—they weren’t afraid to test it out, and thousands have given the game a go. Instead of scratching circles into the ice for rings, a system of lights is used to create the houses at either end of the sheet.
• In the 1880s, Scottish residents of New York held an annual bonspiel on a frozen pond in Central Park. The match pitted former residents of northern Scotland versus those from the south. The contest involved numerous teams, and scores were a total of all the games. In 1883, for example, the final score was North 182, South 150.
Curling in Vegas
CURLING COUPLES
Curling, as many who play will attest, is a social sport. For that reason, it’s no big surprise that many curlers end up as couples, husbands and wives who share a love of rock tossing. Here are a few of the more successful curling couples.
Rick and Lorraine Lang: Lorraine Lang was a Canadian champion in 1988 and ’89, and took the world title in 1989. Husband Rick is a three-time Brier winner—1972, ’82, and ’85—winning the world title in ’82 and ’85. Together, they captured the Canadian Mixed in 1981.
Dave and Heather Nedohin: Dave throws last rock for the powerful Randy Ferbey team that won four Canadian and three world championships, while Heather has a world junior and world women’s title on her resumé.
Ian Tetley and Erica Brown: A cross-border couple. Ian Tetley is a three-time Canadian and world champion, while Erica has four U.S. women’s titles to her credit, as well as two Olympic appearances.
Pat Perroud and Jane Hooper Perroud: Pat won Canadian and world championships playing lead for both Al Hackner (1985) and Ed Werenich (1990), while wife Jane was a member of Marilyn Bodogh’s squad, which captured the Canadian and world championship in 1996.
Wayne and Sherry Middaugh: Wayne is a two-time Canadian and world champion while better half Sherry has won the Ontario title three times, reaching the semi-finals of the Canadian championship on all three occasions. Both curlers have competed in the Canadian Olympic curling trials.
Curling Quote
“They told us to watch out for odd people when he got here. The first guy I saw was wearing a gopher on his head. Where do you start?”
—A member of the security detail of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who visited the 2007 Tim Hortons Brier in Hamilton, as told to the Edmonton Sun
ROCKS FOR ROCKERS
Members of the Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip are curling fans. That became obvious during a concert tour in 2006. The band was playing in London, Ontario, and singer/guitarist Ed Robertson told the assembled fans his tale of looking for curling stones so he could play on an outdoor rink he made each winter at his Ontario cottage. He had searched high and low, and finally found one company that made them—Canada Curling Stone, located in London, but when he called he only received an answering machine message, which he turned into a little song:
Canada Curling Stone
Canada Curling Stone
Please don’t try to phone
We’re Canada Curling Stone
No one is at home
At Canada Curling Stone
All of our rocks are home
At Canada Curling Stone
We implore you to leave us alone
We’re Canada Curling Stone
The next morning, Robertson called the company again, and this time, Kim Tuck answered the phone, and when Robertson introduced himself, she told him she’d already received scores of calls and e-mails from those who were at the concert the night before, relaying his request. In the end, that request was fulfilled, and Robertson bought a full